Here at Align, we save all of our clients' design preferences on file so that their needs are met no matter which designer they work with. But if you happen to fall in love with one of us (which happens all the time!) we are happy to pair you up with that preferred designer whenever their availability permits! For example, Virginia-based photographer and educator Katelyn James loves working with Kari as her album designer. After dozens of designs together, Kari has Katelyn's style down pat!

Today's featured album design is a perfect example of Katelyn's album design preferences: classic and airy, with lots of white space on the page but thin spacing between images. It is full of beautiful photos of a fairytale-perfect wedding in the historic Mayflower in the heart of DC.

Hey guys! Melissa Jill here! I remember the first album I designed myself. It was 2004 and my client had asked for an album. I had never even created a sample album at that point so EVERYTHING was new to me. But I figured, how hard could it be? I'll just whip one up. Haha! Poor little naive me. Three months, ten headaches, and a dozen workflow issues later, I had my first album done. It turned out to be much more challenging than I had initially anticipated. And being that I was new to albums, I was dealing with a HUGE learning curve. Since then I have learned so much about the album design and sales process, and that's one of the main reasons I'm sharing this series of tips -- to help others who may be facing this learning curve for the first time themselves.

I remember looking back at that very first album years later in my client's home and cringing at a few of my choices. Namely, I thought it would be fun to make a collage of overlapping and tilted images for a reception spread. You know...because receptions are wild and crazy, the design should be as well? Yikes! Major regret on that design choice. There were a number of other design trends that I succumbed to in that first design that are SO entirely outdated now. Which makes me sad, because wedding albums need to last generations without looking outdated. Of all things, a wedding album should be timeless.
Today I'm going to share some timeless design tips that we at Align adhere to, and that I would recommend to any of you out there who are designing your albums in house. I hope I don't step on any toes or hurt any feelings, but there are also a few outdated trends that I'd like to call out as well. I learned my lesson the hard way by regretting my design choices, and I want to encourage you all to keep your designs clean and timeless so you don't experience this same sense of regret years from now.

So let's start by ripping the bandaid off first. The outdated trends to steer clear of are:

All of these trends clutter up your design and don't allow your images to stand apart and be appreciated as art. Your images themselves are interesting. You don't need to make your design overly complex to create a beautiful album. Let the images shine and tell the story for you. As a side note, even though we don't recommend any of the above design choices as being ideal, Align can absolutely design albums with these specifications. The most important thing to us is that you and your clients are happy. And we strive to customize our designs to fit your unique preferences. Just select the "Styled" design option and put your preferences in the comments section of your order form.

Now for the positive tips. Here is what TO DO if you want your albums to be beautiful and remain timeless for generations to come.

#1 -- Use restraint and don't clutter up your spreads with too many images. The fewer images per spread, the more importance you give them.

#6 -- Group your images by location so that each spread tells a cohesive story. This is a great thing to keep in mind when you are shooting too. Taking a number of different photos in each location will make for a great album design!

#7 -- Think about the color story you are telling on each spread. If there is too much going on color-wise, think about separating competing images onto separate spreads, or putting some of the images in black and white.

#8 -- Help your design to tell a story by including a number of scene-setting spreads that set the scene for what is to come. This is another great tip to keep in mind for when you are shooting! It's not only wedding detail photographs that help make a design beautiful, think about how you can take detail shots of the location and venue to help tell the story of the day.

We talk all the time about how outsourcing your album designs allows you to serve your clients even when YOU are unavailable (on vacation, in the middle of your busy season, etc.). But what about when the designer you outsource to is unavailable as well? Align Album Design has you covered! Our small team currently has 5 designers. That's intimate enough to provide personalized service to every client and communicate amongst each other about each client's design preferences. But it's large enough that there's always a designer available whenever a new order is placed or revisions come in!

Our guaranteed 4 business day turnaround time isn't affected by an individual designer's personal time off. For example, I (Denise) took an unplugged vacation last week. There were still 4 other designers available to take on new designs that came in while I was gone. As for my in-progress orders, my fellow designer Andrea took care of all the revisions or final file deliveries that came in for me (Thanks Andrea)!

Another example is that Virgina-based photographer and educator Katelyn James typically works with Kari as her album designer. However Kari took maternity leave earlier this summer as she welcomed her new baby boy into the world (Congrats Kari!). When Katelyn placed a new order for the below album design during that time, we immediately asked if she preferred to wait for Kari or if she'd rather work with someone immediately available. Katelyn was completely understanding and okay with having a different designer for that particular order. Due to Kari's amazing note taking, I was able to design the following album for Katelyn using all of the same design style preferences that Kari always follows for Katelyn's orders. The design was designed, revised, AND approved within a few weeks! Behold the power of teamwork!

And today we're featuring that album design on this blog! We absolutely adore Katelyn's photographs from this wedding, especially of the gorgeous Big Spring Farm venue, of an adorable bride & groom, and of so many lovely details and florals. Here are some of our favorite spreads from this picturesque wedding's album design:

Brace yourself for some stunning eye candy ahead! We always love designing albums for the lovely Katelyn James and this beautiful outdoor wedding's album is no exception! We hit the jackpot by getting to work with these images that combine the picturesque scenery of Pippin Hill Farm, a couple with supermodel good looks, and Katelyn's talent for capturing joy and emotion! Plus, we love how Katelyn's design preferences (a combination between Align's Classic and Simple styles) allows the images to really shine within the design!

Oh, que c'est beau! We're SO giddy about showing off this album design that features photos from a destination wedding that Katelyn James shot in France! Even after designing Katelyn's albums for almost 5 years now (wow! time flies!), we still get heart-eyes every time we work with her gorgeous images. And this French destination wedding exemplifies so much of what we love about Katelyn's photography style -- glowy light, creamy skin tones, beautiful composition, and overall romance. For more album goodness of Katelyn's, check out her profile in our Client Advocate section.

We hope you love this album design as much as we do!

P.S. My own French vocabulary is mostly limited to lines from Beauty and the Beast, so shoutout to Google Translate and to our francophone friend Abby Grace for confirming that the opening exclamation of this blog post indeed meant "Oh how beautiful"! ;)